1. Statement of the Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relates generally to the field of portable carrying devices, and more particularly to portable bag carrying devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Individuals commonly need to carry a variety of objects; however, there is a limit to how many objects that can be comfortably grasped with an individual's hands. To overcome this limit, many devices have been constructed to increase the number of objects that an individual can carry. Suitcases have been designed for orderly storing of multiple items. However, suitcases are usually bulky and not convenient for toting along on a daily basis. As another example, backpacks allow an individual to store multiple items on the individual's back and leave the hands free for grasping other items. While back packs offer one solution, they also create another problem similar to other attempted solutions. The individual must carry the bulky backpack prior to use, and similar to suitcases, backpacks may not be convenient for toting along on a daily basis. Additionally, backpacks of any useful size cannot easily be stored as most backpacks are not configured to fold into a compact unit.
Traditional brown paper bags allow shoppers to carry multiple items, from a grocery store for example, without having to hold each item individually with the shopper's hands. Additionally, brown paper bags are easily folded into a compact state that allows easy storage. While brown paper bags can be easily stored and can ease the burden of carrying multiple items, a common disadvantage of brown paper bags is that they require a shopper to use both hands and arms to securely support the brown paper bag.
An improvement over the traditional brown paper bag is a plastic bag with integrated handles. Such plastic bags allow individuals to comfortably carry multiple items within the bag by using only the hand to grasp the handles. Plastic bags are either easily stored or simply thrown away. Nevertheless, plastic bags with handles still have limitations. For example, while a lightweight plastic bag can be easy to carry by hand, carrying a heavy plastic bag by hand can be uncomfortable and even painful. The weight of the bag can cause the bag's handles to apply a significant amount of pressure to the individual's hand. This problem is greatly exacerbated when the individual is attempting to carry multiple bags of any significant weight. The discomfort and/or pain caused by the weight of the bags only increases with the amount of time the bags must be carried. Thus, using a plastic bag to carry a heavy weight over a long period of time is not a viable option.
Additionally, while carrying heavy bags by hand may cause discomfort or pain to some individuals, other individuals simply do not have the strength to carry items by hand. For instance, many elder individuals have a decreased strength and cannot carry items that are a routine part of the life, such as shopping or grocery store bags. Further, some individuals cannot carry certain items because of a handicap or deformity. Nevertheless, such individuals in particular, need to be able to carry such items in order to remain independent from constant help. Thus, a portable device that is easily compacted for storage and that can be used to carry multiple items is desired.